When the Huey P. Long Bridge openend in 1935, a traffic jam of Model Ts jockeyed for position to take the first trip across the span hailed as an engineering marvel. It's a scene that will be recreated Sunday morning when about a dozen 1930s-era cars make one final trip over the bridge's notoriously narrow lanes after traffic switches to wider lanes as part of the $1.2 billion widening project.

Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneFrancisco Gomez places markers on the Huey P. Long Bridge in preparation for Sunday, when traffic will shift to new wider lanes as part of the $1.2 billion bridge widening project.

The 10 a.m. procession of vintage cars is part of a contest to celebrate a major milestone in the 6-year-long project to convert the Depression-era bridge into a modern highway.

Nearly 2,000 people entered a drawing to be the last to use the old lanes or the first to use the new ones.

Gaynell Peterson won the right to make the first trip on the new 10-foot-wide lanes, a foot wider than the old lanes, which will be demolished and rebuilt.

"I was reminded that my father was among the first people to drive across the old bridge when it opened," Peterson said. "So, he would be very proud that I will be the first member of the public to cross the new bridge."

Kathryn Aikman will take the final ride on the old lanes in a 1931 Model "A" Ford. A group of vintage car enthusiasts will tag along in their 1930s vehicles.

"A friend of mine told me they entered me in the contest," Aikman said. "I was shocked that I won."

The bridge currently has two 9-foot lanes in each direction with no shoulders. Once the project is completed in mid-2013, there will be three 11-foot lanes in both directions, with 8-foot outside shoulders and 2-foot inside shoulders.